# Home made dry wine



## FriendlyFire (Jun 11, 2007)

Any of you make wine? I know it takes some work and space but how easy can it be with the proper tools and location?

Any simple Ideas?


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## Giovanni (Jun 19, 2007)

As for a simple idea, you can look to see if you have any home brew places in your area. There is one near me where I can brew beer and wine on premises. They take care of all the ingredients and mess. Honestly though, the wine does not take much at a place like this. You pour the grape juice out of a big bag, add necessary ingredients and close it up. You go back in 4 to 6 weeks to bottle. But, it is good!


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## Kaisersozei (Feb 5, 2008)

Just like our cigar hobby, wine making can be as easy or complicated as you want it to be! Compared to homebrewing beer, though, it's a piece of cake especially with the right equipment (pretty much just two buckets, a lid, a plastic airlock, spoon, a hydrometer, and some siphoning tube.) 

The ingredients come in juice kits. Like Giovanni says, you just blend together with the spoon, add the yeast, lock it up in the bucket, and wait. The hardest part is making sure everything is sanitized. There are a lot of different kits on the market. You can choose by grape, style, or even country of origin.


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## mosesbotbol (Sep 21, 2005)

Stick with making beer. I've never had a homemade wine that was worth drinking.


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## FriendlyFire (Jun 11, 2007)

Any good website you guys know for wine making?


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## Mark C (Sep 19, 2007)

FriendlyFire said:


> Any good website you guys know for wine making?


http://www.winepress.us

That's a pretty good place to start, with very active forums.

I've made a few batches of white wine, they've all come out pretty good. So far I've been very pleased, especially considering each bottle I make costs only a few bucks.

I've never worked with kits, only fresh grape juice from a local vineyard, and fresh juice imported by that vineyard from Chile. I wasn't nearly as meticulous as I should have been with the last batch and it still came out really nice, I was actually a little surprised. I've been making Traminette (a Seyval/Gewurtzraminer hybrid) for the last two years and I've yet to find one commercial Traminette that I liked better than my own.

Good luck!


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## FriendlyFire (Jun 11, 2007)

Thanks again for this this is a great site spending alot of time on there.

Dont worry not more then this site 



Mark C said:


> http://www.winepress.us
> 
> That's a pretty good place to start, with very active forums.
> 
> ...


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## jagmqt (Feb 22, 2007)

I made wine when I was 11 years old with my father...

We used to make apple cider every year at the grandparents house...one of the neighboring old timers was really cool, showed me and my father how he takes the fresh cider and makes wine...

We went home and tried it...and were very successful...we ended up with 6 grolsh beer bottles full...the last bottle kept for 10 years so I could legally drink it at 21...

When you're making it with fresh cider, there are natural yeasts, so we simply added sugar, rasins, and orange peels into an old stone crock my mother had...covered it tightly with plastic, when the plastic began to puff out, we'd open it and stir it...after about two weeks, we emptied it into glass gallon jugs w/ the water stoppers...gave it another couple of weeks...then racked it off into the grolsch bottles...(we took the rubber off the stopper, boiled the bottles, then added the wine when still relatively warm, put the rubber back on and clamped it down...when the bottle cooled, it created a vaccume seal)

I guess my point is, if an 11 year old kid can whip out a batch of apple cider wine...don't be afraid to try it...:tu

jag


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## parris001 (Mar 29, 2008)

Home made wine is easy. I've made it with watermelon, blueberries. strawberries, and even store bought juices that haven't been pasteurized (health food stores). 

Never had it turn out dry though. I have a friend with a vineyard that does this as a hobby on a rather large scale, and his is never dry either. I prefer dry red wines. 

My advise is if you like wine, buy it. Home made beer.......now that's another story! Good, good, good...........


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## Mark C (Sep 19, 2007)

Dry is easy, sweet is a little trickier. There's only three things you need to do for a completely dry wine: 1) don't add sugar, 2) choose the right yeast, 3) make sure the yeast has enough nutrients.

If you're making grape wine from fresh juice, you shouldn't have much trouble. Fruit wines (watermelon, strawberry, etc) will likely need extra nutrients added. This site has most everything you'll need to buy:
http://www.eckraus.com/index.htm

Read up on the yeast varieties and choose the best match. For your first batch, look for varieties that are fairly vigorous and not prone to 'stuck fermentations'. Also look for something that can handle a broad temperature range and make sure you keep your must in that range (too hot and too cold can both kill your yeast).

Natural fermentations (using wild yeast) are especially tricky because you never really know what to expect. Yeast can play a significant role in the flavor profile of a wine, much more than just a yeasty/bread aroma. With store-bought yeasts you know exactly what you'll get. Wild yeasts may be good, or may have negative effects. On the other hand the wild yeasts in certain parts of France have performed so well they were specifically studied, isolated, and cultivated for commercial use.

If you've got any questions let me know (though I only have personal experience with white grape wine, both dry and off-dry).


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## EastBay (Jun 2, 2008)

Mark C said:


> Dry is easy, sweet is a little trickier.


I duly disagree with the above. Sweet is very easy, dry is harder.

Although the rest of the suggestions are on point.


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## Mark C (Sep 19, 2007)

EastBay said:


> I duly disagree with the above. Sweet is very easy, dry is harder.
> 
> Although the rest of the suggestions are on point.


How so? I've only made 3 batches of wine so far, all grape, but every single one of them fermented completely dry with very little effort on my part. Did I really get that lucky?

My main concern with sweet wines is that the wine will begin fermenting again in the bottle. I use an additive to kill the yeast before back sweetening the wine (can't remember the name), but my batches aren't big enough to warrant sterile filtration so I always hope for the best. So far, so good.


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## EastBay (Jun 2, 2008)

If the wine is dry, then there is no need to sterile filter or face re-fermentation in the bottle. Making sweet wine is easy, like I said, all you have to do is stop the fermentation (add SO2) and sterile filter, at the sugar levels you want. To make dry wine you do need good yeast (and supplement it with super food) and hope for no stuck ferments (although you can re-start them, but at home they are tricky). It is difficult to keep the must at specific temps during fermentation when making wine at home, high temps lead to out of balance wines with muted flavors (and kill the yeast), low temps do not ferment fully and kill the yeast. If you somehow can keep the temps at 70F or so, you will end up with better wine.

Native yeasts are not as "predictable" as cultured yeasts, but they do give you faster ferments (once they get going) and much more interesting flavors all around. 

A friend of mine tried his hand with home made wine last year, the results were pretty good although the wine ended up with a lot of acidity (his grapes led to that, not wine making techniques). He's got an acre planted to Sangio and will try again this year, hopefully he'll pick a little later to let that acid go down a bit first.

Also, make sure everything used to make wine is absolutely clean, another key element to good wine making.


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## Mark C (Sep 19, 2007)

EastBay said:


> Making sweet wine is easy, like I said, all you have to do is stop the fermentation (add SO2) and *sterile filter*, at the sugar levels you want.


I think it's interesting we have opposite opinions of the same issues. I don't have any trouble with stuck fermentations, and I have no temperature control (although the fermenters live in my basement, which maintains a nice ~65 F around the harvest months). The temps rise a bit while the yeasts are working, but have never gotten stuck.

I have no means to sterile filter, instead I use potassium sorbate and hope for the best. I still feel dry wines are easier if you do a little homework ahead of time, though sweet wines may be easier if you have the filtration equipment.


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## FriendlyFire (Jun 11, 2007)

Wow what a nice debate here, I was think of making the wine with out any additives but was told not to dear try it.



Mark C said:


> I think it's interesting we have opposite opinions of the same issues. I don't have any trouble with stuck fermentations, and I have no temperature control (although the fermenters live in my basement, which maintains a nice ~65 F around the harvest months). The temps rise a bit while the yeasts are working, but have never gotten stuck.
> 
> I have no means to sterile filter, instead I use potassium sorbate and hope for the best. I still feel dry wines are easier if you do a little homework ahead of time, though sweet wines may be easier if you have the filtration equipment.


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## EastBay (Jun 2, 2008)

Mark C said:


> I think it's interesting we have opposite opinions of the same issues. I don't have any trouble with stuck fermentations, and I have no temperature control (although the fermenters live in my basement, which maintains a nice ~65 F around the harvest months). The temps rise a bit while the yeasts are working, but have never gotten stuck.
> 
> I have no means to sterile filter, instead I use potassium sorbate and hope for the best. I still feel dry wines are easier if you do a little homework ahead of time, though sweet wines may be easier if you have the filtration equipment.


Mark,

After crafting a number of 90+ Spectator/Parker rated wines in the past few years I would hope I know my stuff


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## Mark C (Sep 19, 2007)

FriendlyFire said:


> Wow what a nice debate here, I was think of making the wine with out any additives but was told not to dear try it.


You'll want to add at a minimum SO2, yeast, and yeast nutrient. Potassium sorbate if you want a sweet wine. Anything beyond that is up to you. I'm very happy with the juice I get, so I don't fool with the acidity levels or anything else at all.


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